LIS Reflections Series – Glasgow NOW – Wednesday, 29th March 2017

The Speakers

Kirstin Taylor (LDA Design)
Kirstin is a Director of LDA Design who joined the practice in 2013 to lead the newly established Glasgow office. Kirstin has worked in private practice for over 15 years and brings knowledge of global contexts to her projects, having led a range of public realm and masterplanning projects in the UK and internationally, including China, Russia, North Africa and the Middle East.

Prior to joining LDA Design, Kirstin was a Director of City Design Co-operative from 2002 to 2005 and 2012-2013 where she undertook projects including Hazelwood SEN School in Dumbreck and the Famen Zen Meditation Park, a prestigious new park and tourist destination in X’ian, China. Kirstin also headed up the European Landscape Architecture division at RMJM between 2005-2012 where she worked on projects such as the Commonwealth Games Athletes Village, Laurieston Housing Development and masterplanning projects within UNESCO World Heritage contexts including St Petersburg and Edinburgh’s Southside.

Throughout a range of her projects Kirstin has undertaken extensive community and stakeholder engagement, recognising the importance of positive engagement as critical to the success of any project, this includes recent projects in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Haddington. Kirstin is currently Project Director, on behalf of LDA Design, for the prestigious Union Terrace Gardens Regeneration project in Aberdeen and the Sighthill Transformation Regeneration Area Masterplan project, which will be delivered in 2020. She recently led the design and implementation of the St Vincent Plaza development in Glasgow, a winner of the Scottish Quality in Planning Award for Place.

Rory Wilson (LDA Design)

Rory is an Associate with LDA Design who has worked in private practice for over 10 years, joining LDA Design in November 2014. Prior to joining LDA Design, Rory was an Associate in Gillespie’s Glasgow office from 2006- 2014 where he worked both in the UK and internationally including projects in Italy, Scandinavia, China and Russia.

Rory is highly experienced in masterplanning and detailed design and coordination of large and complex landscape projects. He has particular strengths in delivering hard landscape detailing for public realm areas and in his in depth horticultural knowledge. Rory also has excellent community consultation and communication skills, having worked in a number of community workshops using a variety of consultation techniques to engage stakeholders, local communities and Council representatives include charette work on a range of local and international projects.

Since joining LDA Design, Rory has acted as project lead for some of the Glasgow office’s most prestigious projects including Sighthill TRA Infrastructure Delivery and proposals for the rejuvenation of Union Terrace Gardens in Aberdeen. Whilst at Gillespies he was involved in the design, detailing and implementation of a number of high profile schemes for both public and private clients in the UK, including two public realm projects in Edinburgh; St Andrew Square and the Grassmarket, both of which fall within the confines of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Graham is a Partner at Austin-Smith:Lord and Office Principal for their Glasgow studio. He joined Austin-Smith:Lord in 1998, having studied at Edinburgh College of Art and the TU-Berlin. He is an award-winning architect, urban designer and planner and has led significant regeneration, higher education, housing, commercial and transportation projects throughout the UK and Ireland.

Graham is currently leading the ongoing (Y)our City Centre project for Glasgow City Council, in collaboration with MVRDV. This project involves preparing Regeneration Frameworks for four significant City Centre districts; Broomielaw, St. Enoch, Central and Blythswood. This work follows on from leading over a dozen design charrettes for town centre regeneration across Scotland; from Greenock to Elgin. Other recent projects include Scotland’s first outdoor museum and new town centre public realm in Helensburgh and a new library at King’s Buildings for the University of Edinburgh.

Graham has been Depute Chair of Architecture + Design Scotland since 2010 and served on the Saltire Society’s Housing Design Awards panel from 2010 to 2016.

Duncan is a Chartered Landscape Architect and a ‘Recognised Practitioner’ in Urban Design with over 15 years professional experience at LUC. He works at a variety of scales from strategic masterplans and development frameworks to detailed design and implementation. Duncan plays a leading role in the design and delivery of various major public realm projects; he is currently leading the public realm design for Irvine Town Centre and the University of Glasgow Gilmorehill campus extension. Previously he was Project Manager for the award winning Inverness City Centre Streetscape Project and Glasgow Broomielaw IFSD public realm project.
Duncan is a talented and experienced designer validated by numerous awards; most recently he won the Local Landscape Planning category at the 2016 Landscape Institute Awards for the Woodside, Firhill and Hamiltonhill Development Framework, and in 2015 he won the public realm category at the Scottish Design Awards for Shawfield, a project described as ‘bold and futuristic’ by the judging panel.